Ireland, 1998

Let me at the very outset

extend to Mr. Opertti our warm congratulations upon his

election as President of the General Assembly at its fifty-

third session. We are particularly pleased to see presiding

the Foreign Minister of Uruguay, a country with which

Ireland has always enjoyed the friendliest of relations. His

rich experience in politics, education, diplomacy and the

law will serve the Assembly well as he directs its work for

the coming year.

Also on behalf of the Irish people, I wish to pay a

particular tribute to the Secretary-General for the thoughtful

and determined leadership which he has brought from the

African continent to the discharge of his most challenging

office.

Commitment to the work of this Organization is a

central part of Ireland?s foreign policy and of her place in

the world. Irish people strongly support that commitment.

We feel close bonds with the United Nations. With many

like-minded countries, we have striven to uphold and

develop the universal role of the Organization for the

promotion of peace, development, international cooperation

and human rights. These purposes are linked in the Charter

and they are linked in reality.

All around us, side by side with rapid technological

and material development, we see in every region of the

world uncertainty, insecurity and conflict.

Our attention has been gripped this year by the severe

economic and financial difficulties which are besetting

developed and emerging markets as well as economies in

transition. The full effects of these difficulties have yet to

play themselves out. We are all affected.

More than 1 billion people struggle to survive on less

than a dollar a day. Environmental degradation and natural

disasters wreak unnecessary havoc on entire nations.

Meanwhile, obscenely disproportionate levels of resources

are diverted to fuel the arms trade and supply the

unjustifiably large arsenals in parts of the world that can

least afford it. Human rights remain to be fully respected in

all regions.

I think that these realities are among the root causes

of the conflicts confronting us today. If the new millennium

is to open with real prospects of alleviating such conflict

situations, it is the root causes which we must together

tackle; prevention is always better, and certainly less costly,

than cure.

As my Swedish colleague has said, the Austrian

Presidency has spoken and addressed the Assembly on

behalf of the 15 Member States of the European Union,

expressing our position on many issues. Nevertheless, I

will focus my remarks on a number of issues which are

of particular importance to the country which I represent.

We should all acknowledge that there can be no real

peace or security without development. Development is

about dignity and offering impoverished people around

the world the chance of a better life now and better

prospects for their children. This is not too much to ask.

Its achievement, however, requires a new partnership of

international engagement and commitment. All of us must

share a determination to break down the walls of

exclusion and marginalization that divide our world.

A new partnership must address not only aid flows

but also the crippling problem of debt. It must assist

developing countries to participate on a fair basis in the

world economy. Development cooperation is not only

about reducing unacceptable levels of poverty. All

countries, developed and developing alike, must together

address shared priorities that affect all our countries and

all our peoples. An integrated approach is called for, as

previous speakers have mentioned.

In this context, I welcome in particular the seminal

report of the Secretary-General — I have already

welcomed it in a committee today — on the causes of

conflict and sustainable development in Africa. We will

work actively with other Member States to ensure that

this report receives the strongly positive response it

deserves.

I will allude for a moment to Ireland?s development

cooperation programme, if I may. As for Ireland?s

contribution, it is with some pride that I can say that we

have one of the fastest growing development cooperation

programmes in the world today. The Irish Government is

committed to reaching the United Nations target for

official development assistance — that is, 0.7 per cent of

gross national product — and I think it?s fair to say that

we are fully determined to make further progress towards

this goal in the coming years.

Last week, my Government agreed on a package of

debt alleviation measures for developing countries, in the

multilateral and bilateral fields, amounting to some $46

million, which is a considerable sum of money for a

country the size of Ireland, and I think it was a measure

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of the bona fides of our intention in this whole area of

development cooperation.

For Ireland, support for development cooperation

means, by definition, support for the United Nations in this

vital area. The United Nations has only the resources which

the Member States give it. These must reflect our political

commitment to confront challenges. I think that is why

declining contributions to core resources for United Nations

funds, programmes and agencies are a matter of deep and

grave concern.

For its part, Ireland has increased significantly the

level of its commitment. I am pleased to say that our

Development Assistance Programme now supports 32

funds, programmes and agencies of the United Nations

system, compared to 13 just five years ago. I pledge before

this Assembly the continuation of Ireland?s support in that

regard.

Again, the question of disarmament and nuclear

disarmament was raised by my Swedish colleague, the

previous speaker. The end of the cold war provided the

international community with a unique opportunity to

accomplish the final elimination of nuclear weapons and to

usher in a nuclear-free world. Yet, while the past 10 years

have witnessed important steps to reduce nuclear arsenals,

there has been no clear commitment on the part of nuclear-

weapon States to proceed rapidly to nuclear disarmament,

as required by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of

Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Ireland?s advocacy of nuclear disarmament has been

consistent and unrelenting. We have been the strongest

protagonists of the achievement of the goals of the nuclear

Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Ireland proposed in 1958

and was the author of at that time. We must begin to take

certain fundamental steps now to achieve the NPT?s non-

discriminatory and universal application. We cannot enter

the third millennium with the prospect that nuclear weapons

will be considered legitimate for the indefinite future.

That is why Ireland has, this year, joined with seven

like-minded States — Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, New Zealand,

Slovenia, South Africa and Sweden — to launch the

declaration “Towards a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World: The

Need for A New Agenda”. The steps called for in the New

Agenda are premised on a clear and unambiguous

commitment to be undertaken by the five nuclear-weapon

States to engage in nuclear disarmament negotiations within

an entirely new context. They are also premised on a

similar commitment by the three nuclear-weapon-capable

States — India, Pakistan and, of course, Israel — not

parties to the NPT.

This session of the General Assembly provides a

unique opportunity to give substance to proposals such as

those contained in the Joint Ministerial Declaration of 9

June. My colleagues and I have therefore prepared a draft

resolution which sets out an agenda for the definitive

elimination of nuclear weapons for all time and which we

ask the Assembly to consider and adopt in the First

Committee.

On the question of landmines, coincidentally and

fortuitously, last week I presided over a landmine

conference in Dublin while the International Campaign to

Ban Landmines was meeting in my own capital city to

develop a civil-society-based landmine monitor. We

received the welcome news that the fortieth ratification of

the landmines Convention had just taken place. We now

have a total ban in place and can set our minds to

eradicating these obscene instruments and their

consequences.

The inexcusable delay in addressing the question of

landmines was a glaring failure of the international

community to look squarely at an issue of human security

which was fundamental to development. Another example

is the persistence of expenditure on arms in certain

countries, which is out of all proportion to social

spending. This state of affairs must cease and the arms

trade that feeds it must be curtailed. I would personally

like to see it stopped and put out of existence.

On the question of human rights, a further and very

pervasive root cause of instability and conflict is

inadequate respect of the very rights of which I am

speaking. There are too many specific instances of human

rights abuse in every region of the world. There are

hopeful signs — for example, in Nigeria and East

Timor — but elsewhere the situation remains bleak.

In this, the fiftieth anniversary year of the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, we must reaffirm our

collective commitment to promoting respect for these

rights and freedoms by progressive measures, national and

international, to secure their universal recognition and

observance. The Universal Declaration, in my view, is as

relevant today as it was five decades ago when it was

drafted by the representatives of developed and

developing countries with important input from members

of civil society. It is a universal benchmark.

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We all have questions to answer. The first might be:

How have we lived up to the standards set out in the

Universal Declaration? What steps have we taken to build

on the Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted five

years ago by consensus at the Vienna Conference, which

specifically reaffirmed the right to development? These are

some questions that we might well ask ourselves during the

current session of the Assembly.

On the question of capital punishment, another

important human rights issue is the abuse of the death

penalty. Ireland will continue to work for the universal

abolition of capital punishment. We welcome the fact that

the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, again at

its recent fifty-fourth session, addressed this issue directly.

We also welcome the adoption in July of the Statute

for the International Criminal Court at the international

conference hosted so effectively by Italy. This is truly a

landmark development. Nobody is and nobody should be

above the law. We fervently hope that the Statute will enter

into force on the earliest possible date and that it will

secure universal adherence.

Finally, let me join with those many others who have

given support and encouragement to the Secretary-General

and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The

promotion of international cooperation in this key area must

remain one of this great Organization?s first priorities.

On the question of conflict prevention, I now turn to

the maintenance of international peace and security, which,

of course, is the prime responsibility and prime aim of the

United Nations. The painful experiences of this decade —

notably in the former Yugoslavia, Africa and the Middle

East — have prompted much soul-searching and, of course,

analysis.

In Kosovo, we are witnessing a humanitarian

catastrophe which could replicate the horrors of Bosnia.

The international community must take urgent and effective

action within the framework of the United Nations to

ensure that our worst fears are not realized.

Another humanitarian disaster faces us in Sudan.

Recently, I saw for myself the terrible suffering of its

people. I visited the epicentre of the famine in Ajip in

southern Sudan, having spent three hours getting there from

a town called Lokichokio in northern Kenya, which was a

staging post for aid for that part of the terribly blighted

country of southern Sudan. It is not acceptable that we

allow this tragedy to continue. One of the essential

conclusions, here again, is the need to address the origins

of conflict and not just the symptoms. Foresight and

adaptability are necessary.

In this context, I welcome in particular the emphasis

which the Secretary-General has placed on the need to

tackle the root causes of conflict in all their complex

diversity. We support his strengthening of United Nations

early-warning mechanisms and his prioritizing of

preventive diplomacy. The many strengths and capabilities

of the United Nations and the regional organizations in

the area of conflict prevention must be harnessed and

focused to achieve greater use of resources.

The General Assembly, for its part, is placing ever

greater emphasis on conflict prevention. It has

commended not least the efforts of the Organization of

African Unity (OAU) and acknowledged the contribution

of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in

Europe (OSCE), a regional organization which Ireland

fully supports.

On the question of peacekeeping, in this, the fiftieth

anniversary year of United Nations peacekeeping, I want

to pay tribute to the peacekeepers who currently serve the

Organization. They do so often in very difficult and

dangerous circumstances. Too many have made the

ultimate sacrifice. Since 1958, Ireland has been at the

forefront of United Nations peacekeeping. In this period,

some 40,000 Irish peacekeepers have served with the

Organization across the world. Seventy-five of my fellow

Irishmen have given their lives.

Among Member States, Ireland is currently one of

the leading troop contributors. My President, Mrs. Mary

McAleese, in one of her earliest official engagements,

visited our peacekeepers in Lebanon. Again, this

underlines Ireland?s active commitment to bringing peace

to that part of the world. The world continues to need

United Nations peacekeeping, but its operations must be

based on sound mandates and have solid political and

financial support.

Colleagues have mentioned the question of United

Nations reform. Mobilizing the political will to tackle the

interrelated causes of insecurity and conflict, I believe, is

only the first step. The United Nations as an institution

must be strengthened and given the necessary resources

to carry through its work. Timely funding by Member

States is a prerequisite.

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Ireland believes that the reform process should not be

viewed as a cost-cutting exercise. The wretched expression

“downsizing” comes to mind. It is about making the

Organization more effective in the discharge of its Charter

functions, especially in the economic, social and

humanitarian fields. I welcome the progress achieved to

date. Ireland will continue with other like-minded States to

build partnerships among the membership so that real

progress can be achieved.

We have views in relation to the area of Security

Council reform. A reinvigorated United Nations must

include a reformed Security Council that reflects the

realities and the needs of today?s world. We believe that the

Council must work more transparently and that its

membership should be enlarged to ensure a more equitable

representation. To this end, we have joined with a group of

like-minded States in putting forward a number of specific

proposals. We will continue to work for an agreed outcome

on this issue of crucial importance to the future of this

Organization of ours.

On the question of Ireland?s candidature, Ireland

believes that all Member States — small, like ourselves, as

well as large — should have an opportunity to serve on the

Security Council, the body on which the Members of the

Organization have conferred primary responsibility for the

maintenance of international peace and security. The

Assembly will be aware that Ireland has presented its

candidature for non-permanent membership of the Security

Council for the two-year term 2001-2002. Throughout its

membership of the United Nations, Ireland has worked to

play a bridge-building role among Member States. As a

member of the Security Council, Ireland?s approach would

similarly reflect the interests of the totality of the broad

spectrum of the membership.

I can give the Assembly some good news about

Northern Ireland. My predecessors have by custom

informed this Assembly of our efforts to help promote

peace in Northern Ireland. It is my deep privilege,

therefore, to convey an account of a breakthrough of great

importance: the Agreement reached by the British and Irish

Governments and eight Northern Ireland parties in Belfast

on Good Friday, 10 April 1998.

The Good Friday Agreement marks a historic new

beginning in relations within Northern Ireland, between the

North and the South of the island and between Ireland and

Britain. It has brought us all a new sense of hope. We have

begun the long walk out of the dark night of division and

conflict into the bright sunlight of partnership and harmony.

As somebody who has spent almost 40 years in political

life seeking to encourage such a journey, I am immensely

gratified by this development.

The Agreement is a complex document, a careful set

of checks and balances, a parity of pain and gain. Striking

that balance of pain and gain on both sides was, in large

part, the task of the main political parties in Northern

Ireland. Their decisions called for political courage and

most serious and genuine leadership, which they gave in

abundance. But they could not have been taken without

trust and vision, too — trust, where before there was only

suspicion, and vision, where before there had only been

self-interest. The leadership of these peacemakers in

Northern Ireland deserves the warmest commendation of

this Assembly.

With the participants drawn from the full spectrum

of the political landscape, what we were addressing in the

negotiations was a complex range of problems and

perspectives, each with its deep roots in history. If these

competing issues were to be addressed satisfactorily, we

knew the final Agreement would itself have to be

complex, broad-based and balanced.

Achieving agreement in these circumstances was a

major challenge for all of us involved in the long,

tortuous and difficult negotiations. As one of those

privileged to have had such a role, I can verify that there

were times during the long days and nights in Castle

Buildings, Belfast, when success seemed like some distant

dream. But the determination of all sides not to be

deflected was stronger than any obstacle. On the dawn of

Good Friday, the dream of agreement finally became a

reality.

Critically, the Agreement was emphatically endorsed

by the people of Ireland, North and South, in referendums

held on the same day, the first time that has happened on

the island of Ireland since 1918. One of the profound

consequences of this democratic endorsement is that never

again may the name of the people be invoked as a basis

for the shedding of blood in my country and on my

island. From now on, it is manifest that the only

legitimate force is the force of reason and persuasion.

The Good Friday Agreement is a blueprint for our

future. Indeed, it may be a blueprint for other regions?

futures. But a blueprint can be successful only if it is

translated from word to deed. That vital process of

implementation is the next great challenge and one that

we are all now actively addressing. Some elements of the

39

Agreement are already in place. The new Northern Ireland

Assembly has been elected and the 108 members have

taken their seats. Dramatically symbolizing the new era of

partnership, David Trimble and my good friend Seamus

Mallon, each representing the two major traditions, have

been appointed First Minister and Deputy First Minister,

respectively. The Assembly has made an encouraging and

constructive start. Work is also proceeding on many of the

other elements of the Agreement.

But institution-building alone, important as it is, will

not be enough. The appalling atrocities of last summer,

which saw the horrific burning to death of three young

boys, the Quinn brothers, and the merciless massacre and

slaughter of 29 people in Omagh underline the reality that

the Agreement on its own does not guarantee peace. More

than anything else, what is also required is what Seamus

Mallon calls a new politics. At the heart of that new

politics must be a determination to work in a new way for

the wider good. All of us have constituencies to represent,

but we must find new ways to balance that requirement

with the needs of the wider society. That, I would suggest,

is what partnership means. That, I would suggest, is what

partnership is all about. It also shows how trust and

reconciliation are built.

If the new politics is to work on the island of Ireland,

we must seek to develop, on the basis of mutual respect,

new ways of listening to each other; new ways of talking

to each other; new ways of understanding each other; and,

critically, new ways of working together.

We are bringing this century to a close. The existence

of this great Organization of States devoted to peace

reflects the turbulence of the decade. Great progress has

been made, but a great price has also been paid. Each of us

in our own way has had to grapple with the instinct to war

and division. The experience of Ireland echoes the

experiences of so many other States. We realized our desire

for independence in the wake of the Great War. Our birth

as a State was darkened by the horrors of civil war. We in

the South of the island overcame our divisions, channelled

our differences into peaceful politics and have significantly

prospered. In the North, divisions and fears were not

challenged. They festered and brought us almost three

decades of violence.

The peace process allowed us to challenge and resolve

the fears and divisions generating the conflict. The

Agreement is a watershed, a harbinger of the new era that

coincides with the millennium. It is a great, historic

rapprochement between nationalism and unionism. All the

participants in the negotiations together have achieved a

great thing. But it is vital that we say to one another, as

I am now again saying to the unionist community, that we

recognize that a new era has dawned, in which all the old

shibboleths and the old rhetoric must be replaced by a

new dialogue, by a new partnership.

It is precisely in this spirit of the new politics that

we must approach the inevitable difficulties that will arise

from time to time, including at present those relating to

the establishment of the “shadow” executive in Northern

Ireland and to decommissioning. It is in the interests of

all of us who support the Agreement that we resolve the

difficulties to the satisfaction of all concerned. If one side

“wins”, everybody loses. That was the approach that

secured the Good Friday Agreement. If one side “wins”,

everybody loses.

I should like to take the opportunity to pay tribute to

the role of the international community in bringing about

the Good Friday Agreement, in particular that of the

independent chairman, former Senator George Mitchell of

the United States of America, former Prime Minister

Harri Holkeri of Finland and General John de Chastelain

of Canada. Their contribution was immense, and General

de Chastelain?s contribution continues to be. The support

and solidarity, through the process of our partners in this

Assembly, and, in particular, of our partners in the

European Union — the President of the Commission and

the Presidencies of the European Union — have been

unparalleled in their contribution, as were the warm and

encouraging words of the Secretary-General of this

Organization. We deeply appreciate it.

I want in particular to record our very special

gratitude to the President of the United States, Mr. Bill

Clinton, for his personal commitment to the cause of

peace in Ireland and for the exceptional solidarity with

the peace process he has displayed at all times throughout

his presidency. He took the opportunity, when he

addressed this Assembly last Monday, to mention

Northern Ireland and Ireland on three or four or five

occasions. I think that was an indication of the type of

commitment he has and will continue to have in the

Northern Ireland peace process.

Finally, I would like to underline the central and

crucial roles played by my own Taoiseach, Irish Prime

Minister Bertie Ahern, and by British Prime Minister

Tony Blair in the closing days of the negotiations. Their

particular role was historic and, in my respectful view,

heroic.

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I want to say that, in the spirit of the Charter of this

Organization, we are ready to reciprocate the solidarity of

the international community by way of sharing the lessons

of our experience with others, should that be considered

helpful. It would be a source of immense additional

satisfaction to Ireland, as a committed Member of the

United Nations, if the Good Friday Agreement were to be

helpful to conflict resolution elsewhere.

Finally, and important though international solidarity

may be, the reality is that for us in Ireland, as elsewhere,

the primary responsibility rests with ourselves. May I recall

here the words of a well-known author which have inspired

very many:

“Mankind must remember that peace is not God?s gift

to his creatures; peace is our gift to each other.”

With the Good Friday Agreement, we in Ireland have

enjoyed the gift of peace. We do so in the spirit of the

Charter of the United Nations. The challenge now is to

ensure that it is passed to our children and to our children?s

children. I know that the members of this Assembly will be

with us as we address and take up that particular challenge.